Gatherings of people, such as meetings, are useful for discussions on many topics. These gatherings are enhanced if there is a semi-permanent, erasable method for writing down ideas, talking points, qualifications, or other data pertinent to the discussion. An example is a high school or college classroom, in which a professor will write down the main points, for example, for the lesson of the day. Other examples include sales meetings, in which salesmen or sales managers may list products and their respective advantages. Still another example is a “poster board” session common at scientific or engineering meetings. These poster board sessions allow presenters to list topics, data or data points, ideas for a next stage of development, and so forth. The media used in these meetings may include “white board” or dry erase products, such as those available from Sanford Corp., Bellwood, Ill. Other media may include black boards, i.e., boards using chalk to express an idea. Still other media may include opaque plastic sheeting that accepts writing.
In larger meetings especially, or in those with a high interest in a particular topic, board space or presentation space may be in short supply compared to the number of participants or hopeful participants. Thus, it is common for meeting sites or gatherings to furnish many such boards. Each unit furnished is typically a single board, such as a dry erase board, a chalk board or even a smart board, which may be computer controlled and capable of “remembering” what is written and even downloading the written images for later print out in a smaller medium, e.g., one or more sheets of paper. Of course, such smart boards are very expensive and may not be affordable for smaller organizations.
The other typical solution, as mentioned, is to furnish many single boards, which may then be formed in a line for longer presentations, or joined to make a straighter line, which may present topics, ideas or data in a desired sequence. One problem with this method is that it may require many boards to convey all the information presented, and the line of single boards may thus be rather long. Making the line shorter can be accomplished by forming an arc with the boards, i.e., aligning the boards in a polygonal shape (as viewed from above). This also presents problems, because it is easy to mis-align the panels and a broken, disjointed presentation is not as easy to follow. Moreover, as the overall length of the “line” of boards increases, the distance between the viewer and the far edges of the boards also increases, in many cases to the point where the viewer will have difficulty viewing the material written on the edges of the board.
What is needed is a better way of presenting information, especially information that requires several panels or boards, such as those intended for large gatherings. These and other advantages of the disclosure, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description provided herein.